6 Endangered Species That Aren't Endangered Enough

As if a giant spider that can bring down a moderate-sized flying animal wasn't bad enough, it's one of the "hissing bastard spiders" (that's actually its full scientific name), the creepiest creature to exist outside of a horror novel. At this point, evolution clearly just started piling in everything nasty that could possibly fit: Its spit can dissolve flesh down to the bone AND it can shoot invisible hairs that cut your eyes and mouth. While the "intelligent designer" theory has lost steam of late, the "sadistic bastard creator" theory is single-handedly supported by the existence of this creature.

I totally YES'ed.

Somehow this event escaped my notice until today. Maybe I'm not reading the right blogs.

Over a week ago an event was held to give Iraq veterans an opportunity to tell about some of the atrocities they witnessed and committed during our ongoing war.

From The Nation:

While on tank patrol through the narrow streets of Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad, Pfc. Clifton Hicks was given an order. Abu Ghraib had become a "free-fire zone," Hicks was told, and no "friendlies" or civilians remained in the area. "Game on. All weapons free," his captain said. Upon that command, Hicks's unit opened a furious fusillade, firing wildly into cars, at people scurrying for cover, at anything that moved. Sent in to survey the damage, Hicks found the area littered with human and animal corpses, including women and children, but he saw no military gear or weapons of any kind near the bodies. In the aftermath of the massacre, Hicks was told that his unit had killed 700-800 "enemy combatants." But he knew the dead were not terrorists or insurgents; they were innocent Iraqis. "I will agree to swear to that till the day I die," he said. "I didn't see one enemy on that operation."

I think it's important to listen to them not because I think our nation's soldiers are particularly cruel or immoral, but because this is reality. Whenever reports have entered the news about American soldiers committing atrocities our national leaders have assured us that they are isolated incidents committed by a few bad seeds.

"This is not an isolated incident," the testifiers uttered over and over, to the point of liturgy, insisting that the atrocities they committed or witnessed were common. The hearings were not organized to point fingers at "bad apples" or even particular squads, several testifiers said.

The truth is that war can cause normal, decent human beings to do inhumane things. War is by nature cruel and immoral, and the Iraq war is no exception.

Being a fan of traditional Disney animated movies, I was excited the first time I saw a trailer for Enchanted. Actually, I remember that the trailer started out with all of the animated footage from the movie, and my first thought was, "Wait, Disney is making good animated movies again?!" And then it changed to live action footage, and I was a little less excited. But, hearing about its self-awareness and all of the good reviews it was receiving, I decided to give it a try.

The movie is about a cartoon girl named Giselle, who is pushed down a well by an evil queen who doesn't want her to marry the prince, Edward. The well transports her to real life (much like the episode where Homer does in that Treehouse of Horror episode), where she is a little bit out of place. The land of fairy tales runs by different rules than the land of real life, and Giselle is sometimes oblivious to that fact. She meets a man named Robert and his young daughter, and they host her while she waits for prince Edward to come rescue her. In the meantime, the evil Queen sends one of her minions over to kill Giselle, while one of Giselle's animal friends tries to thwart his efforts.

Enchanted is filled with songs, dance routines, and animated real-life acting. Amy Adams, whom I loved in Junebug, is perfect as Giselle, and rightly deserves all the talk about her acting. She is able to capture the essence of animation in her own face, and is able to play a fairytale character without overdoing it. It's a delicate balance, because she could end up being extremely annoying, but she is always charming and wins over all of the characters in the movie as well as the entire movie audience. Pleasantly surprising is the performance from James Marsden as the prince; I had no idea he could pull off that kind of comedy! Also effective are Timothy Spall and Susan Sarandon as the evildoers. Patrick Dempsey fits in well too, as a good blend of an ordinary guy with a bit of a prince-like look that can match him up well with Giselle.

By the end of the movie, I certainly felt as if I had received enough cheer for a full month. I commented to Ric as we were leaving the theater that I felt like I needed to watch something like Resevoir Dogs to balance it out. But even though I kidded, Enchanted really was full of a great fairy tale spirit. It was clever in its self-awareness and the way it recalled images from previous Disney classics, but it was also a good story in itself, and revived the fairy tale genre in a way that I didn't think was possible. Good for all ages (and even gaining a few laughs from the husband), I would pretty much recommend anyone, providing they're prepared for a massive dose of optimism.

Well, hello! We had another doctor's appointment last week and everything is going just great. We found out we're having a girl! This makes the seventh (!) girl grandchild on my side of the family (no boys at all), but the first on Steph's side. Here are some pictures of Prego Steph (new action hero, no cape) from Easter, plus one of Cedric, Steph's nephew. Laura, Steph's sister-in-law, came to visit last week and apparently Cedric likes to do dishes.

Another recommendation from Mr. Bell, Offside is an Iranian movie that takes place during a World Cup qualifying soccer match. Women are not allowed to go to sporting events, so if they want to see live soccer, they have to dress up like men. At first, the movie follows one young girl as she tries to sneak into the game. She is caught and is kept in a gated area with several other girls who have been caught. They bicker with the guards, try to find ways to sneak out, and rely on one guard to describe the game to them.

This is a quiet little movie that moves at a very deliberate pace. Sometimes I felt as if it were leading toward a more exciting plot, but it really was just about the experience of women who get caught sneaking into a soccer game, and the reasons behind why they can't attend. The girls have several conversations with the guards about why they can't go in, and the guards explain about how men shout obscenities that the girls shouldn't be exposed to, along with a multitude of other reasons.

Apparently a lot of the footage from the movie is footage from the actual soccer game. My guess is that these are featured in the later portion of the movie, which features street scenes after the game is won. It's very interesting to see and hear the way the Iranians celebrate. I love that one of their chants says (paraphrased) "Iran riddles its enemies with goals!"

All in all, the movie was a bit of a slow one for me. What I did like was that it gave an insight into the mindset of Iranian culture by using a soccer game setting. It's a creative idea, and I appreciated it for that.

I knew this wasn't going to be your normal PaleyFest panel when I arrived over two hours early to the Arclight only to see that the line for the Dome wrapped all the way around the theater. In contrast, I had arrived at the Apatow panel an hour and a half or so early and was at the front of the line when the doors opened. My excitement rose as they finally let us in the theater and we, the lucky ticket holders, walked past the standby line containing folks who had been waiting since the previous
evening just for a chance to get into the sold out panel. Even though I had to sit in the balcony, I knew it was going to be an unforgettable evening.

Read more »